Dents

[+] El Mañana

((This chapter contains mature and potentially triggering content. Reader discretion is advised.))

The tires buckled under the pressure of the sea. The body of the car shook and rattled. A bullet hole through the windshield leaked, expanding the large crack that had already formed there.

He's going to kill us.

I pulled in the last breath I would ever take, savoring the taste of muffler smoke and salt water. My seat vibrated. The engine hummed. I shut my eyes. I didn't want to be a witness to my own death.

I stayed that way, clutching the sides of my seat for what seemed like hours. 

"Saoirse, yew can open yewr eyes."

The water had stopped rising. What I thought was a coffin was truly a life raft. The car transformed around us, taking the shape of a full-fledged submarine. It still leaked in a few places, but it seemed sturdy enough.

We had escaped.

"2D, this is amazing!"

I flew from my seat, roaming the interior. It was bigger than the car, though I couldn't understand how. I had no way to explain it aside from an act of God. Yet, that was impossible. There wasn't anyone coming to save us.

There was only 2D and I, plunging into the currents, going everywhere and nowhere.

"So where are we going?"

"I'm not sure. Whereva yew want."

I chewed over the idea. I had never been presented with such an opportunity before.

When I ran from Essex, I didn't have any intention of washing ashore. I was merely prolonging the inevitable. I never thought of a future beyond the next five minutes. The notion of it made me dizzy.

We could go anywhere.

Alas, I couldn't get that hopeless plastic eyesore out of my head. I had been sure that it would be the last piece of land I would ever see.

"How long have I got to decide?"

Dread surged in the depth of 2D's eyes. He glanced at a meter on the far left of the console.

"Not very long."

I looked over at the gauge myself. We didn't have much fuel. I wasn't aware what would happen if we ran out. I didn't want to know. All of my short-lived hope was soon replaced by the fear of plummeting to the ocean floor, never to be seen again.

2D set a course north east, working on the assumption that we must hit land at some point. To our dismay, the GPS had been severely damaged within the car and there wasn't any other way to direct ourselves. We had only a shattered compass at our disposal. We weren't even sure if it was accurate.

The world disappears, under the sea. It is an all consuming force; it is unrelentingly isolated. I hated how familiar I became with it.

A few hours passed unnoticed. The engine lulled, slowing to a more consistent speed. There wasn't much to do except talk and smoke, so that was how we passed the time.

I was lucky enough to find a partially empty tube of metal epoxy, with which 2D and I took care to patch the leaks. There were quite a lot. Just as we thought we had fixed the last one, we would discover another. By the time we finished, only small, scattered droplets remained. Despite our effort, the floor was still flooded. The water did seem to keep rising, if only slightly.

This life raft, this glimmer of hope in a dreadful situation, would soon be no more than a metal casket.

"Hey," I started, "2D... Do you have any regrets?"